SMS messages have become the most common form of communication around the globe. When an SMS message is being spoofed, the number  you see when you receive an incoming call to your mobile is fake. The senders’ name, phone number are changed. SMS spoofing works around the world. There are entirely legitimate reasons to spoof text messages and the legality of this practice varies worldwide. Some nations allows it and some have restrictions on changing the Sender Name. The United States and Canada are probably the most difficult places on earth to spoof text messages.

SpoofTel Ltd. has been launched in late 2004, and was the first spoofing provider from Canada.It is operated out of Vancouver, British of Columbia. The main advantage of a Canadian Caller ID spoofing provider is that they do not fall under the jurisdiction of the FCC as a provider in the United States would. SpoofTel currently support calls to the continental U.S. and Canada. It is very easy to use, fast to set up. Simply open an account, buy spoof minutes and you can make a call right away.

A lot of people do not realize that Caller ID Spoofing has been existing since Caller ID was created.  For over a decade Caller ID spoofing was used mainly by business with access to expensive PRI ( Primary Rate Interface)  telephone lines provided by local telephone carriers.

In the United States, the US Senate’s Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation passed the “ Truth In Caller ID Act 2007.” The bill previously stated that the Caller ID may not be spoofed for fraudulent purposes, but now only states that Caller ID may not be spoofed to be intentionally misleading or inaccurate.

Many people had been exposed to Caller ID spoofing when Sony Pictures Entertainment released a high-tech thriller movie called “ Untraceable” starring Diane Lane in January 25th 2008. A scene in the movie Diane mentions Spoofcard and how it was used by the untraceable bad guy to make a spoofed call and changed his voice.

Today, you can find websites offering many kinds of sms sending and spoofing services while browsing the web. SMS Spoofing is not funny to everyone. Fraudster used spoofed-identities. There is a risk that these identities used by fraudster may match those of real home subscribers.

Early in March 2008 Caller ID Spoofing once again became a hot topic. A Washington man was recently sentenced to 30 months in jail, after using Caller ID Spoofing  to send SWAT teams to the houses of a dozen innocent, unknowing individuals. He was also ordered to pay$24,000 in restitution.

A bill was also introduced in Florida in April 2008 that would regulate or potentially prohibit Caller ID spoofing.

Caller ID spoofing can sometimes be useful for some reason or another whether for business or for fun, but it needs to be done with caution. Caller ID spoofing can be dangerous and can lead you to experience horrible situations.

Subscribers of telephone lines make it a point to go an extra mile like paying an additional monthly fee to get a Caller ID on their telephone lines just to make sure they will see who’s calling them in the Caller ID or know the person they are talking to on the other end of the line. It is because of this Caller ID feature that people want to pay additional monthly fee with their service provider as it allows you to identify a caller before you answer the phone. Just like how to stop unwanted emails, a Caller ID can stop any unwanted calls too as you can choose whether to answer any call or not.

However, Caller ID is susceptible to fraud using a practice known as Caller ID Spoofing. With this caller ID spoofing, callers can falsify the telephone number and thus disguise the true identity of the person calling. This is very dangerous with the numerous cases of identity thefts. Identity thieves can easily collect your personal information because with caller ID spoofing thieves can make it appear that they are calling from your bank, credit company, or even a government agency.

With the proliferation of identity theft cases, Congress signed into law “The Truth in Caller ID Act of 2009” in December 22, 2010. The law was passed to prohibit caller ID spoofing for the purpose of defrauding or otherwise cause harm to people. In June 2010, the US FCC or the United States Federal Communications Commission, in turn, adopted its own implementing rules.

The FCC rules, specifically:

1. Prohibits any person or entity for transmitting misleading, fraudulent or inaccurate caller ID information with the intent to defraud, cause harm, or wrongfully obtain anything of value; and
2. Subject violators to a penalty of up to $10,000 for each violation.

Exempt from the rules are authorized activities by law enforcement agencies and situations where courts have authorized caller ID manipulation to occur.

So, would you still like to make an anonymous call? You may be tempted to try it out since there are companies offering free phone spoofing service. Think before you use spoof a phone call even if you just want to do it for fun. The other person may not like what you are doing. Be sure you are safe before getting too excited to make some fun with a friend.

Caller ID spoofing can be fun because you can change your voice from male to female. You can even record your calls and  you can leave messages on someone’s mobile voice mail without their mobile ringing. But having fun can sometimes lead to horrible situations as what happened to Rossco_Pee in “Apps to Disguise My Phone Number.”

Caller ID Spoofing is a new software system or technology that displays a fake phone number on the caller ID other than the real phone number of the person calling. Since caller ID is becoming popular so is the caller ID spoofing.

Itellas Communications, for example, is offering caller ID spoofing that gives you the ability to change the number that someone sees on their Caller ID Display. It also has an added feature wherein you can change your voice and record your calls.

This service is beneficial for those who want to keep their Caller ID number private but there is a potential for abuse and can be damaging. In fact, according to Consumer Credit, several states have made it illegal already to mislead, defraud, or deceive the recipient of the spoofed phone calls.